


The One With Exhausted Grad Student Sylvain

by LucRambles



Series: Sylvix Week 2020 [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, SMART SYLVAIN RIGHTS, Soft Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26604640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucRambles/pseuds/LucRambles
Summary: Sylvain is a very tired grad student. His boyfriend is a very comfortable pillow.Sylvix Week 2020, Day Two: PDA | College AU
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Series: Sylvix Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1933951
Comments: 16
Kudos: 78
Collections: Sylvix Week 2020 Fic Collection





	The One With Exhausted Grad Student Sylvain

**Author's Note:**

> eyyyyy it's day two. Prompt used was College AU, but also kinda PDA? they're very soft and affectionate just not in public.

Felix hears the heavy, dragging footsteps coming down the hall first. _SliiiiiideTHUNK. SliiiiiideTHUNK. SliiiiiiideTHUNK,_ getting progressively louder as they come closer. They come to a stop at the apartment door. Felix pauses his game, putting the controler on the coffee table as he hears the faint jingle of keys. The front door creaks open. “Sylvain?” Felix calls.

He hears a faint grunt from the doorway, but can’t see beyond the short wall that separates the living room from the generously named “entryway.” There’s more zombie shuffling. “Syl?”

Sylvain rounds the corner into the living room a moment later. He somehow looks more disheveled than he did this morning when he bolted out of the apartment, literally _running_ late to class. He’s been wearing the same pair of grey sweatpants for three days, but it looks like he finally changed his shirt this morning. Felix isn’t sure if he just grabbed it off the floor, or if those coffee stains are from today. It really could be either. His five o’clock shadow is more of a hasn't-shaved-or-showered-since-last-Tuesday shadow, and the bags under his eyes have somehow gotten deeper in the last fourteen hours. 

The redhead unceremoniously drops his backpack on the floor, followed by his jacket after a few more steps, toeing off his shoes as he goes. His reading glasses are folded and placed on the coffee table. Felix shifts into a more comfortable position on the couch right before Sylvain collapses face-first on his lap. “You good?” Felix asks.

He gets a noncommittal grunt in reply.

“Library closed?”

A grunt.

“Starbucks?”

Another grunt.

“Campus library?”

A drawn-out groan. Felix starts running his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. “To be fair, you need to sleep at some point.”

Sylvain mumbles something against his stomach. 

“What was that?”

He turns his head a little to the side. “Not if I have enough coffee.”

Felix flicks him in the forehead and Sylvain barely reacts. “C’mon, weren’t you the one telling _me_ to sleep when I was practicing too much.”

“‘S diff’rent,” Sylvain mumbles.

“Hmm. No, not really. I don’t remember your nerd speech about how lack of sleep affects like… all your brain stuff. And I’m sure if your brain wasn’t over-exhausted right now, you’d be able to give me that speech again.”

“I got… too much work to finish. Grad school… be like that.”

“When I said that about fencing, you started hiding my energy shots.”

Sylvain snorts.

“You need your rest. Whatever assignment you’re working on isn’t going anywhere,” Felix says.

“Not done with… with research yet,” Sylvain mumbles. “Decoding twelfth century Fódlan style speech _written in cursive_ is. Very. Not easy.” A beat, then, “Did you know Dimitri the first had absolutely terrible handwriting? Because he had terrible handwriting. Which is even worse when it’s pixelated to hell and back because I don’t have permission to see the _r_ _eal_ letters and the archivist at the royal library has to scan them and send them to _my school’s_ library and _then_ they can email them to me, and apparently the _royal goddessdamned library_ can’t afford a decent scanner.”

“There isn’t like, a digital transcript or something?”

He feels more than hears Sylvain’s chuckle. “You underestimate how bad his handwriting is. Like, transcripts get the gist of it across, but the wording is always a little different, because holy Seiros his handwriting was _t_ _errible—_ ”

“Yeah, I get it, fancy king didn’t have fancy king handwriting.”

“ _He didn’t,_ ” Sylvain groans. “I mean, I still have plenty of time to finish this, but I want it to be _perfect,_ y’know? The program I want to get into next year is fairly competitive.”

“Didn’t one of your professors say you’re pretty much guaranteed a spot?”

“More or less,” Sylvain says. “Unless my work takes an absolute nosedive, it’s looking pretty good for me. But I don’t want it to be just _good._ ”

Felix leans down and kisses his boyfriend’s forehead. Sylvain visibly relaxes against him. “You’ve been working really hard,” Felix says. “I mean it. You’ve been working so hard, Syl, I’m sure it’s going to be perfect and you’re gonna blow everyone else out of that water.” A pause. “I’m proud of you, you know.”

Sylvain makes a content noise and shifts closer to Felix.

“I mean it. I may not understand half of what you say, but it’s clear you know what you’re talking about, and that you really enjoy what you’re studying. I’m glad you found that.”

Sylvain smiles. “I love you.”

“Love you too, nerd,” Felix says and gently ruffles his hair. 

He lets Sylvain rest for a few minutes before nudging him. “You should get to bed.”

Sylvain whines. “Don’ wanna move. Comfy.”

“I’m sure our bed is much more comfortable to sleep on.”

“Mmm. No. Boyfriend… very comfy.” As if to demonstrate, Sylvain snuggles closer, burying his face against Felix’s stomach. 

“I will come to bed with you. Come on Syl, up and at ‘em.” 

It quickly becomes apparent that Sylvain is not moving until his incoming caffeine-crash coma wears off, so Felix turns to plan B: good old-fashioned manhandling.

It’s a little difficult in his position, but Felix manages to wiggle out from under Sylvain, despite the redhead’s protests. “Stop whining, I’m not leaving,” Felix says. He slides one arm under Sylvain’s knees and the other along his back and lifts him off the couch. Sylvain immediately curls closer and buries his face in Felix’s shoulder. Felix realizes Sylvain must be _really_ tired, since displays of Felix’s surprising strength usually… well, Sylvain likes that Felix can toss him around like a sack of potatoes. _Really_ likes that. He really has been working too long.

Sylvain doesn’t talk or move as Felix carries him to their bedroom, except for an annoyed whine when he sets him down. “Shush, I’m not going far.”

For a moment, Felix debates trying to get Sylvain into his pajamas. He doesn’t want to wake him up too much—Goddess knows Sylvain could rouse just enough to catch a second wind (or third, or fourth, or tenth), but it would probably do him some good to get into something fresh. In the end, he manages to dig up a clean pair of Sylvain’s lounge pants (one of them is going to have to do laundry soon. Felix would have done it already, but Sylvain is _very_ particular. Although, he may be too exhausted to notice right now. Felix puts that on his mental to-do list). Then he wonders how long it’s been since Sylvain changed his underwear, and grabs a clean pair of briefs too.

It’s a bit of a struggle to get him changed, but Felix manages. Sylvain stays limp and lets Felix move him this way and that until the dirty clothes are in the hamper and he’s wearing something clean for the first time in probably a week. He’s going to have to make him shower tomorrow.

Felix gets undressed too, then fishes Sylvain’s phone out of his sweatpants pocket and plugs it in before sliding into bed beside him. Immediately, the redhead rolls over and throws an arm around Felix’s shoulders and a leg over his hips. Effectively trapped until morning, Felix pulls Sylvain closer and settles him comfortably against his chest. If Sylvain wasn’t already asleep, he is by the time Felix is settled. Though, that doesn’t stop the satisfied hum he makes when the latter starts combing through his hair again. He places a soft kiss on his temple before dozing off as well.

**Author's Note:**

> anyone else ever felt the agony of trying to read old documents written by people with the world's worst handwriting and also it's not only in script but OLD STYLE script and also you didn't learn script to begin with or are sylvain and I alone here. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked this! drop kudos/comments if you did! comments make my day even if it's just "love this" or "<3"


End file.
